1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a support apparatus that supports the driving operation of a vehicle on a road and more particularly to an apparatus that can assist in determining driving conditions that surround the vehicle on the road.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional apparatus, as described in JP-2003-337029 A, has been proposed that assists vehicle running in order to reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents by allowing a driver to accurately recognize positions of the other vehicles driving around the subject vehicle.
JP-2003-337029 A describes a position detection apparatus that allows a driver to recognize relative positional relation between the subject vehicle and the other vehicles.
The position detection apparatus has a global positioning system (GPS) function that provides route guidance in accordance with a map represented by stored map data. The apparatus generates information about a subject vehicle position from the GPS information and receives information about another vehicle from the vehicle using inter-vehicle communication. The apparatus maintains the relative positional relation between the subject vehicle and the other vehicle based on the information about the subject vehicle position and the other vehicle position. The apparatus matches the positions of the subject vehicle and the other vehicle with a map represented by the read map data and indicates the relative positional relation between the subject vehicle and the other vehicle on the map.
For example, the position detection apparatus having the GPS function as described in JP-2003-337029 A uses a map indicated by map data to represent an actual road shape, but in a deformed or modified form. In other words, the position detection apparatus does not faithfully represent the actual road shape. The actual road environment varies due to expansion, pavement, and repair, or new construction or destruction of surrounding buildings. Specifically, the actual road width is sometimes broadened or narrowed compared to the representation of the road width.
The position detection apparatus according to JP-2003-337029 A provides route guidance based on the stored map data and may not be able to reflect changes in the road environment in realtime.
Further, a vehicle is an object having height, width, and breadth. A conventional GPS apparatus such as the position detection apparatus according to JP-2003-337029 A represents the vehicle in a deformed or modified form such as a point.
Conventionally, therefore, it has been difficult to provide accurate driving support corresponding to an actual road environment.